Maybe it was the fact that the Raptors had already played this particular opponent, didn’t play particularly well and still won.

Whatever the reason, the Raptors made this one way tougher than it had to be before eventually escaping with a 104-100 win to improve to 7-1.

And make no mistake, this one was an escape.

“With where we want to go, we can’t be (happy),” head coach Dwane Casey said. “Orlando scrapped, they out-played us for three quarters.”

The sleeved camouflage T-Shirts worn to honour the men and women on Remembrance Day were undoubtedly uncomfortable given most of the Raptors hadn’t played with anything on their arms since high school, but it’s hardly an excuse for the first three quarters to which the Raptors exposed their fans.

For the past two games — yes, one was against Philadelphia, but they still have NBA team status — the Raptors have started to show some of that defensive strength that carried them to last year’s success.

Through the first five they were getting away with next to nothing from a defensive standpoint and still earning wins despite those lapses.

Against Washington on Friday, that defence was in top form, locking down a dangerous Wizards team and coasting to an easy win.

They weren’t quite as stingy Sunday against Philadelphia but it was hardly noticeable as the Sixers are ... well they’re the Sixers and they’re young and they’re not exactly trying to win.

But the defensive wheels fell off again Tuesday night against Orlando, a team playing without their presumptive go-to guy in Victor Oladipo, who could play as early as Friday but was in a suit on Tuesday.

Oladipo, who is out with a facial fracture, has yet to play this year and his absence is a big reason why the Magic came into the game with just two wins in its first seven games.

For three quarters the undermanned Magic had the Raptors right where they wanted them.

They were moving the ball and finding the open man and draining threes like they were a team of Kyle Korvers.

Just when it seemed like the Raptors would finally pay the price for their early indifference with just the second loss in eight games, the Raptors bench arrived to save the night.

Led by Lou Williams scoring , who continues to confirm his fourth-quarter credentials, and Patrick Patterson who looked particularly good himself in the fourth, the Raptors finally started seeing some shots drop.

The defence, which had been so horrendous through the first half — Orlando had first- and second-quarter totals of 32 and 28 points — started to pick up in the third thanks in large part to Johnson, who had his most impactful game since re-joining the Raptors.

Johnson was all over the court, defending his own man and helping when another member of the Magic got a step on one of his teammates. He also took over the rebounding duties almost single-handedly, finishing with a game-high 10 despite just 21 minutes of court time.

Normally his contributions aren’t quite as obvious, but on this night there was no missing Johnson.

But Vasquez wasn’t done lauding his teammate comparing him to one of the league’s best defenders in Tony Allen, who Vasquez played with earlier in his career and who Johnson playing alongside last season.

“You need someone crazy in your locker room,” Vasquez said. “Someone who is not afraid to fight for you or anything like that. He would die for the whole team.”

Kyle Lowry wound up leading the Raptors in scoring with 19 points followed closely by Terrence Ross’ 17 but this was one that belonged to the Raptors reserves.

Aside from the Raptors reverting to that early game malaise, the biggest disappointment on the night came at the centre position where Jonas Valanciunas had one of his worst games of the current campaign.

Valanciunas again struggled in close. You could see the frustration build after one chippie after another rolled out. His matchup of the night, Nikola Vucevic had no such problems and seemed to be getting the benefit of the whistle while Valanciunas couldn’t seem to get a call.

Head coach Dwane Casey left Valanciunas on the bench for all of the fourth quarter, going with the tandem of Patterson and Johnson for most of the final frame with a sprinkling of Tyler Hansbrough thrown in.

It wasn’t pretty, but to be fair outside of a game and a half this year, very little has been for the Raptors despite the record.

PAYTON LOGGING BIG MINUTES

Elfrid Payton is getting a crash course in the NBA and he’s eating up every minute of it.

The first-year point guard is averaging 30 minutes a game through seven games, tops among rookies in the Association.

And the minutes have been productive one’s as well. He also leads all rookies in assists with 6.4 a game and has averaged eight points, fifth among all first-year players.

But the real payback from Payton for the Magic will come down the road, not necessarily now.

As head coach Jacque Vaughn pointed out before the game, Payton is still very much learning the NBA.

That hasn’t stopped him from impressing early on in his NBA career.

Like the bumps and hiccups the Raptors lived with in Jonas Valanciunas’ first year, the Magic are more than willing to live with a little short term pain for some long-term gains.

BRUNO ON BOARD

Bruno Caboclo made it to the active roster last night.

He was active because Landry Fields was ill.

The question came in Dwane Casey’s pre-game scrum: What does Caboclo have to do to get minutes?

The brutally honest answer is it doesn’t matter what he does. This year is not about getting him NBA minutes.

Casey, conscious of keeping all of his charges engaged and only very rarely saying anything that could be construed as remotely critical, mentioned the need for patience where Caboclo is concerned.

Truth be told Caboclo is only going to be in uniform this year as an injury replacement and will only get on the floor in blowouts on the rare occasion he is active.

This is a development year for the 19-year-old Brazilian and despite his status as a first-rounder from last year’s NBA draft all of his biggest steps are either going to come on the practice court in Toronto or on the playing court with the NBA Development League’s Fort Wayne Mad Ants.

Even finding time with the Mad Ants is going to be a bit of a jigsaw puzzle for the Raptors as they are one of 13 NBA teams affiliated with the Indiana-based club.

As Casey pointed out, it’s going to be on management to figure out when the ideal time is to send Caboclo out to ensure that there is playing time there for him. The last thing they want to do is send him down when the team is already stocked via some of the other affiliates and wind up sitting on the bench.

The point here is not to be critical of anything Caboclo has or has not done. He’s doing everything the team is asking of him.

The team does not expect him to contribute in any substantial way to this year’s win-loss record. You should not either.